After Lou Eriksson puts Lidstrom up 11-9 with an empty-netter, Eric Staal scores his second of the game. 30 seconds left.

6:47 p.m.: 10-9 Lidstrom

Rick Nash avoids a poke-check in front and pulls the Staals within one.

6:45 p.m.: 10-8 Team Lidstrom

A backhander by Marty St. Louis sneaks over Henrik Lundqvist's shoulder. Of course, there's no guarantee this two-goal lead holds.

6:43 p.m. 9-8 Team Lidstrom

Jonathan Toews scores from in front to put Team Lidstrom ahead. Loui Eriksson picks up his third point of the game on the play.

6:37 p.m.: 8-8 tie

Kris Letang, stationed out front takes a pass from Patrik Elias to put Team Staal ahead. That's two goals for the Penguins defenseman. Danny Briere ties it up with his second goal. That's three players (including Anze Kopitar) with two goals.

After several good chances, Eric Staal gets a breakaway and beats Tim Thomas. It's the first point by a Hurricanes player today.

6 p.m.: Second intermission

For those keeping track, Daniel and Henrik Sedin each has a point.

5:53 p.m. Close call for Staal

Eric Staal makes a spectacular move around the defense, but Hiller makes a glove save.

5:51 p.m. Another close call for Skinner

He fights off a check all the way down the ice and gets off a shot, but Hiller stops him.

5:48 p.m.: Lidstrom up 7-6

Anze Kopitar scores his second goal of the game on a 2-on-0 break with Loui Eriksson. Little Price could do about that. Then Steven Stamkos and Danny Briere put Lidstrom ahead. That's the second career All-Star goal for Briere, the 2007 game MVP.

5:34 p.m.: 6-4 Team Staal

Nice three-way passing play to set up Kris Letang.

5:31 p.m.: Close one for Skinner

Linemates tried to set up popular center Jeff Skinner, but he fired over the net.

5:28 p.m.: 5-4 Team Staal

Patrick Sharp is the early clubhouse leader for MVP. With his early second-period goal, scored after Claude Giroux picked off a pass, gives him three points on the day.

5:23 p.m.: Second period about to start

Jonas Hiller is in the Team Lidstrom net. That means Tim Thomas will start the third period. Not surprising. He has won the last All-Star games. Carey Price is in the Staal net.

5 p.m.: First period over, 4-4

The NHL said players could keep their jersey numbers, which makes it kind of confusing because Patrik Elias and Paul Stastny (both No. 26) and Brad Richards and Steven Stamkos (both No. 91) are on the same line. When we were walking in, Mike Emrick said he was a little concerned about calling the wrong name because of the duplicate numbers.

Big start for Team Staal. Ovechkin scores less than a minute in, followed by Paul Stastny, Patrik Elias and Claude Giroux. All-Star appearances are not fun for goalies. Fleury gives up four goals on the first six shots. Patrick Sharp has two assists.

4:28 p.m. Puck drops

Cam Ward and Marc-Andre Fleury are starting in net.Team Lidstrom using an all-Lightning line of Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and ex-Tampa Bay player Brad Richards.

4:15 p.m. Introductions

Fans here appreciate what coach Peter Laviolette did for them during the 2006 Cup season. He got the loudest cheer for Team Lidstrom members.Eric's brother, Marc, got the loudest for the non-Hurricanes on Team Staal.Carolina's Jeff Skinner was cheered like a rock star.

4 p.m.: Early MVP favorites

Wouldn't surprise me if one of the Hurricanes players won MVP. The Caniacs are so wild about their team you can imagine that Team Staal members will try to set up Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner. Fans were screaming, "Let's go Staal" before the introduction. And Rod Brind'Amour and Ron Francis got a huge ovation when they skated out for the introductions.

Eric Staal felt that he did a good job at Friday's draft by landing all of the Hurricanes players, his brother, Marc, and his Thunder Bay, Ontario, buddy Patrick Sharp. Saturday, his players beat Nicklas Lidstrom's players in the skills competition. So does he get the hat trick today by winning the All-Star Game? "We're obviously shooting for 3-for-3," he said.

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About Reid and Mike

Reid Cherner has been with USA TODAY since 1982 and written Game On! since March 2008.

He has covered everything from high schools to horse racing to the college and the pros. The only thing he likes more than his own voice is the sound of readers telling him when he's right and wrong.

Michael Hiestand has covered sports media and marketing for USA TODAY, tackling the sports biz ranging from what's behind mega-events such as the Olympics and Super Bowl to the sometimes-hidden numbers behind the sports world's bottom line.